"Jake and I broke in, and it was eerie. No one was in the hallways. I mean
no one. You'd expect there to be gun toting security guards, but the place
seemed abandoned. We were both spooked, and Jake kept urging me to go
faster, faster as we looked for where they kept the records. Finally, we
found the room, and it was unlocked."
Scully's eyes were glued to my face, which was sort of comforting. Even if she didn't want to hear what I was saying, she was at least listening very closely.
"I looked through the M and S file cabinets..."
"And?"
"And William and you, and I... none of us were there. There were other names, though, so many other names."
I think she wanted to smile, knowing that there were no records on us there, but something else swarmed into her eyes instead. "Last night, when I asked you what her name was, you said ' her designation is XX00032.' XX as in female?"
"I think so. I think the zeros at the beginning mean whoever made her was pretty ambitious. They were planning for there being a lot of these children."
"But Mulder, how do you know her number?"
That was the thing I didn't want to think about.
In self-defense, I ignored the question, at least for that moment. "We were going to leave as soon as we checked to make sure there weren't any other records rooms, but as we left the room, it became apparent that things were not all quiet on the western front. Down the hall from us, there was smoke."
"Smoke." She repeated. The sympathetic look on her face told me that she recalled my fear of fire.
"And where there's smoke, there's fire. Jake bolted right then, and screamed at me that I was an idiot for not running too."
"But why didn't you?"
"I heard..." I glanced down at Evie. "Crying."
"Oh."
"You would have done the same thing, Scully. Could you have left if you heard a baby crying?" I knew what her answer would be.
"I couldn't leave a child that was in danger." She admitted. As much as I would have liked to express my triumph, I was careful to adopt a neutral expression. At least I'm good at that.
"Even though I was scared to death of running into the fire, I ran in the direction of the crying. The sounds of my shoes made the crying hard to hear, and that annoyed me a lot. Finally, I found the room Evie was in."
I don't think my face was still calm when I spoke again. "The room was on fire."
**
"The smoke was thick, and it stung my eyes. All I could do was to hold my sleeve over my face, but my lungs still felt seared, and I couldn't get enough air. I began to panic, not because of the fire, but because I couldn't locate the crying."
"Mulder, it's ok." Scully said, being kind to me for the first time since before I'd left her and William last year.
I shook my head. "It's not ok. The reason I couldn't find her is that the rest of them were dead. It was a nursery, but all the babies were dead."
Horror crept over her face. "The fire?" I could barely hear the question, she spoke so softly.
"The smoke. It doesn't take that much smoke to overcome such little lungs... Row after row of little clear bassinets, each holding a tiny, lifeless body. I ran from one to the next, checking each of their pulses, but..." I didn't want to think about it any more. Or ever again. "At the far end of the room, there was a window, cracked open. Someone must have forgotten about it. Under that window was one last bassinet, and Evie was in it, crying her heart out. "
"God."
"At first I thought she was just a trick my mind was playing on me, a cruel joke, but she let out a wail, and I realized she was real. I couldn't just leave her there to die, no matter what she was, whatever purpose they'd created her for. So I picked her up, using her thin blanket to cover her face, and paused only long enough to notice that her number and birth date were labeled on the bassinet. I ripped the label off, and stuffed it in my pocket."
"Then you left?" Scully asked, eyes wide.
"Then I left." I lied. I wanted to leave, but I turned back to look at the fire. Some of the bassinets were melting from the heat...what happened to the bodies of other little XXs and XYs closest to the fire's maw is something I still have nightmares about. I know they couldn't feel anything by that point, but. "The rest of the building was burning merrily by that point, and I never did see another adult. I guess they were where the fire started. The smoke and flames were the only thing that challenged us as we fought to get out. I thought my lungs were going to burst by the time we got outside."
"Then what happened?"
"Then I found Jake, the coward, cursing as he stood by my locked car. I guess he thought I'd gotten myself killed, leaving him stranded. He looked at me like he thought I was a ghost. For a couple of minutes he didn't say a word, just watched the building burn. But as soon as we began to drive, he started to rant about how I should have left with him, and what the hell were we going to do with the baby.
"I told him I'd take care of everything. Jake was still in a pissy mood when I dropped him off. The last thing he said to me was ' If you ever need help again, don't call me.' So then it was just me and a week and a half old baby, the only survivors of what the local news called the area's biggest fire this century. The place burned to the ground."
Scully's eyes were glued to my face, which was sort of comforting. Even if she didn't want to hear what I was saying, she was at least listening very closely.
"I looked through the M and S file cabinets..."
"And?"
"And William and you, and I... none of us were there. There were other names, though, so many other names."
I think she wanted to smile, knowing that there were no records on us there, but something else swarmed into her eyes instead. "Last night, when I asked you what her name was, you said ' her designation is XX00032.' XX as in female?"
"I think so. I think the zeros at the beginning mean whoever made her was pretty ambitious. They were planning for there being a lot of these children."
"But Mulder, how do you know her number?"
That was the thing I didn't want to think about.
In self-defense, I ignored the question, at least for that moment. "We were going to leave as soon as we checked to make sure there weren't any other records rooms, but as we left the room, it became apparent that things were not all quiet on the western front. Down the hall from us, there was smoke."
"Smoke." She repeated. The sympathetic look on her face told me that she recalled my fear of fire.
"And where there's smoke, there's fire. Jake bolted right then, and screamed at me that I was an idiot for not running too."
"But why didn't you?"
"I heard..." I glanced down at Evie. "Crying."
"Oh."
"You would have done the same thing, Scully. Could you have left if you heard a baby crying?" I knew what her answer would be.
"I couldn't leave a child that was in danger." She admitted. As much as I would have liked to express my triumph, I was careful to adopt a neutral expression. At least I'm good at that.
"Even though I was scared to death of running into the fire, I ran in the direction of the crying. The sounds of my shoes made the crying hard to hear, and that annoyed me a lot. Finally, I found the room Evie was in."
I don't think my face was still calm when I spoke again. "The room was on fire."
**
"The smoke was thick, and it stung my eyes. All I could do was to hold my sleeve over my face, but my lungs still felt seared, and I couldn't get enough air. I began to panic, not because of the fire, but because I couldn't locate the crying."
"Mulder, it's ok." Scully said, being kind to me for the first time since before I'd left her and William last year.
I shook my head. "It's not ok. The reason I couldn't find her is that the rest of them were dead. It was a nursery, but all the babies were dead."
Horror crept over her face. "The fire?" I could barely hear the question, she spoke so softly.
"The smoke. It doesn't take that much smoke to overcome such little lungs... Row after row of little clear bassinets, each holding a tiny, lifeless body. I ran from one to the next, checking each of their pulses, but..." I didn't want to think about it any more. Or ever again. "At the far end of the room, there was a window, cracked open. Someone must have forgotten about it. Under that window was one last bassinet, and Evie was in it, crying her heart out. "
"God."
"At first I thought she was just a trick my mind was playing on me, a cruel joke, but she let out a wail, and I realized she was real. I couldn't just leave her there to die, no matter what she was, whatever purpose they'd created her for. So I picked her up, using her thin blanket to cover her face, and paused only long enough to notice that her number and birth date were labeled on the bassinet. I ripped the label off, and stuffed it in my pocket."
"Then you left?" Scully asked, eyes wide.
"Then I left." I lied. I wanted to leave, but I turned back to look at the fire. Some of the bassinets were melting from the heat...what happened to the bodies of other little XXs and XYs closest to the fire's maw is something I still have nightmares about. I know they couldn't feel anything by that point, but. "The rest of the building was burning merrily by that point, and I never did see another adult. I guess they were where the fire started. The smoke and flames were the only thing that challenged us as we fought to get out. I thought my lungs were going to burst by the time we got outside."
"Then what happened?"
"Then I found Jake, the coward, cursing as he stood by my locked car. I guess he thought I'd gotten myself killed, leaving him stranded. He looked at me like he thought I was a ghost. For a couple of minutes he didn't say a word, just watched the building burn. But as soon as we began to drive, he started to rant about how I should have left with him, and what the hell were we going to do with the baby.
"I told him I'd take care of everything. Jake was still in a pissy mood when I dropped him off. The last thing he said to me was ' If you ever need help again, don't call me.' So then it was just me and a week and a half old baby, the only survivors of what the local news called the area's biggest fire this century. The place burned to the ground."